/pptx

name: pptx
description: "Presentation creation, editing, and analysis. When Claude needs to work with presentations (.pptx files) for: (1) Creating new presentations, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with layouts, (4) Adding comments or speaker notes, or any other presentation tasks"
license: Proprietary. LICENSE.txt has complete terms

PPTX creation, editing, and analysis

Overview

Create, edit, or analyze the contents of .pptx files when requested. A .pptx file is essentially a ZIP archive containing XML files and other resources. Different tools and workflows are available for different tasks.

CRITICAL: Read All Documentation First

**Before starting any presentation task**, read ALL relevant documentation files completely to understand the full workflow:

1. **For creating new presentations**: Read [`html2pptx.md`](html2pptx.md) and [`css.md`](css.md) in their entirety 2. **For editing existing presentations**: Read [`ooxml.md`](ooxml.md) in its entirety 3. **For template-based creation**: Read the relevant sections of this file plus [`css.md`](css.md)

**NEVER set any range limits when reading these files.** Understanding the complete workflow, constraints, and best practices before starting is essential for producing high-quality presentations. Partial knowledge leads to errors, inconsistent styling, and visual defects that require rework.

Reading and analyzing content

Text extraction

To read just the text content of a presentation, convert the document to markdown:

# Convert document to markdown
python3 -m markitdown path-to-file.pptx

Raw XML access

Use raw XML access for: comments, speaker notes, slide layouts, animations, design elements, and complex formatting. To access these features, unpack a presentation and read its raw XML contents.

Unpacking a file

`python3 ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_dir>`

Key file structures

• `ppt/presentation.xml` - Main presentation metadata and slide references
• `ppt/slides/slide{N}.xml` - Individual slide contents (slide1.xml, slide2.xml, etc.)
• `ppt/notesSlides/notesSlide{N}.xml` - Speaker notes for each slide
• `ppt/comments/modernComment_*.xml` - Comments for specific slides
• `ppt/slideLayouts/` - Layout templates for slides
• `ppt/slideMasters/` - Master slide templates
• `ppt/theme/` - Theme and styling information
• `ppt/media/` - Images and other media files

Typography and color extraction

**To emulate example designs**, analyze the presentation's typography and colors first using the methods below:

1. **Read theme file**: Check `ppt/theme/theme1.xml` for colors (`<a:clrScheme>`) and fonts (`<a:fontScheme>`) 2. **Sample slide content**: Examine `ppt/slides/slide1.xml` for actual font usage (`<a:rPr>`) and colors 3. **Search for patterns**: Use grep to find color (`<a:solidFill>`, `<a:srgbClr>`) and font references across all XML files

Creating a new PowerPoint presentation **without a template**

When creating a new PowerPoint presentation from scratch, use the **html2pptx** workflow to convert HTML slides to PowerPoint with accurate positioning.

Workflow

1. **Read documentation**: Read [`html2pptx.md`](html2pptx.md) and [`css.md`](css.md) completely (see "CRITICAL: Read All Documentation First" section above)

2. **PREREQUISITE - Extract html2pptx library**:

• Extract the library next to your script: `mkdir -p html2pptx && tar -xzf html2pptx.tgz -C html2pptx`
• This creates a `html2pptx/` directory with the library files and CLI binaries

3. **Plan the presentation**: Follow html2pptx.md "Design Philosophy" section for:

• Aesthetic direction and bold design choices
• Color palette selection (see "Creating your color palette")
• Typography strategy
• Write DETAILED outline with slide layouts and presenter notes (1-3 sentences per slide)

4. **Set CSS variables**: Override CSS variables in a shared `.css` file for colors, typography, and spacing (see css.md "Design System Variables")

5. **Create HTML slides** (960px × 540px for 16:9): Follow html2pptx.md for:

• Slide layout zones (title, content, footnote)
• Critical text rules (proper HTML tags)
• Supported elements and styling

6. Create and run a JavaScript file using the [`html2pptx`](./html2pptx) library to convert HTML slides to PowerPoint and save the presentation

• Run with: `NODE_PATH="$(npm root -g)" node your-script.js 2>&1`
• Use the `html2pptx` function to process each HTML file
• Add charts and tables to placeholder areas using PptxGenJS API
• Save the presentation using `pptx.writeFile()`

• **⚠️ CRITICAL:** Your script MUST follow this example structure. Think aloud before writing the script to make sure that you correctly use the APIs. Do NOT call `pptx.addSlide`.

   const pptxgen = require("pptxgenjs");
   const { html2pptx } = require("./html2pptx");

   // Create a new pptx presentation
   const pptx = new pptxgen();
   pptx.layout = "LAYOUT_16x9"; // Must match HTML body dimensions

   // Add an HTML-only slide
   await html2pptx("slide1.html", pptx);

   // Add a HTML slide with chart placeholders
   const { slide: slide2, placeholders } = await html2pptx("slide2.html", pptx);
   slide.addChart(pptx.charts.LINE, chartData, placeholders[0]);

   // Save the presentation
   await pptx.writeFile("output.pptx");

7. **Visual validation**: Convert to images and inspect for layout issues

• Convert PPTX to PDF first: `soffice --headless --convert-to pdf output.pptx`
• Then convert PDF to images: `pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 output.pdf slide`
• This creates files like `slide-1.jpg`, `slide-2.jpg`, etc.
• Read each generated image file and carefully examine for:
• **Text cutoff**: Text being cut off by header bars, shapes, or slide edges
• **Text overlap**: Text overlapping with other text or shapes
• **Positioning issues**: Content too close to slide boundaries or other elemen